You worked for years to get a buyer to say yes, and when they finally did, you celebrated. Then the invoices started arriving. Slotting fees, spoilage allowances, distributor margins, demo days, and the math started not adding up. The retailer is making money. The distributor is making money. The freight carrier is making money. You are covering the gap with revenue from another part of the business and telling yourself this is what growth looks like.

This is the CPG margin trap. And it's not a mistake you made. It's how the system is built.

Teresa Ging has been running Sugar Bliss for 19 years — bootstrapped, 100% owner, zero outside investors. She's in the Chicago Bears, McCormick Place, Mariano's, and airport locations. She also spent two years inside conventional retail and is now exiting it strategically. Not because she failed. Because she ran the numbers and made a decision.

What we break down:

• The real CPG cost stack: Co-manufacturer, distributor, freight, retailer margin, slotting fees, spoilage allowances — Teresa walks through every layer that takes money before it ever reaches the founder.
• The margin floor you need before you sign anything: Teresa's rule is 40 to 50% starting margin. By the time the channel takes its cut, that number will be much smaller. If you start lower, you are already behind.
• How to use shelf presence as a marketing play: Teresa's $115 shipper display in 35 Mariano's locations was never a profit center. It was a marketing buy. Knowing the difference changes every channel decision you make.
• The relationship pipeline that actually lands enterprise accounts: One conference. One scholarship application. One yes to a random water tasting. Those are the moves that got Sugar Bliss into the Chicago Bears and McCormick Place — not a broker.
• How to set a channel exit benchmark: Teresa gave her broker a hard target: 300+ stores by end of 2025. If it didn't hit, she was out. That kind of pre-commitment is how you make a clean decision without ego getting in the way.
• When to walk away from a retailer on principle: Teresa declined a major retailer that publicly pulled back on diverse supplier spending. She explains why, and what she observed happen to their sales as a result.

This week's Growth Playbook breaks down the full CPG cost stack, Teresa's pricing framework, how to evaluate any channel before you enter it, and the relationship-building practice that has driven Sugar Bliss's biggest accounts. Paid subscribers also get the Run This Play steps and the post-event follow-up template ready to send. The Collective is where we talk through the channel decisions you're sitting on right now — bring yours.

Become a paid subscriber and get this week's playbook here: https://shegetsshitdone.substack.com/